


Just a nice day in

by munchingtin



Category: Batman (Comics), Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily & Superfamily (DCU), Boys Being Boys, Damian Wayne Has Friends, Damian Wayne-centric, Domestic Batfamily (DCU), Friendship, Gen, Good Dog Titus (DCU), Interlude, Jonathan Samuel Kent-centric, Male Friendship, No Plot/Plotless, POV Jonathan Samuel Kent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24181624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/munchingtin/pseuds/munchingtin
Summary: Damian and Jon decide to play outside. Leaving the Manor takes them longer than it should.
Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	Just a nice day in

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly? I just wanted to write a work in which Damian and Jon hang out.

Jon raised his legs straight up into the air. He wiggled his toes and then slammed his heels into the blankets. He also lifted his upper-body off the bed and raised his arms straight in front of him. He let his tongue fall out of his mouth and made gurgling noises. ‘I’ve risen!’

Damian sat with his back against the bed and tapped against his sketchbook with the eraser-end of the pencil. He had drawn a rough sketch of Titus sleeping upside down against his wardrobe. The Great Dane was almost bigger than Jon was and that made the dog extra cool.

‘Come on,’ Jon whined. He folded his legs in the air, hovering above Damian’s too expensive linen bed. Better that than risk getting caught on it and ripping it accidentally. ‘You didn’t even look.’

‘You used your powers, didn’t you?’ Damian retorted. ‘So what, I’ve seen that already.’

Jon pouted. He floated above Damian and lightly flicked the top of his hair with his toes. He did it again when Damian did not respond immediately.

Damian looked up and glared. He looked so much like Mr Wayne it was kind of funny. Jon pulled a face at him hoping he looked like his dad too.

Damian sighed and shoved the sketchbook underneath his bed, where he apparently hid all his cool stuff. He did that because generic hiding places were off-limits for household members. Everyone who comes here is trained to solve mysteries and would end up finding anything hidden, sometimes even on accident. So the only places to hide secrets were the obvious locations that even the Bats recognised as places of privacy. Jon once pointed out that made them awful hiding places and Damian had just said that he should stop arguing logistics in the Manor while he was ahead. 

‘Father did say Kryptonians need constant entertainment.’ Damian said with an air of wisdom. ‘Let’s go outside. Titus, heel.’

The dog had been lazily blinking at them from his uncomfortable position but obediently rolled onto his paws and stretched. When he yawned Jon could see all his massive teeth and awed at the sight.

‘Did you train him?’

‘I do now,’ Damian replied easily. ‘Grayson has no talent and I refuse to let Todd near him.’

Jon hummed as he landed on the floor. Just like Mr Wayne, Mr Pennyworth disapproved of meta-abilities inside the house. He did not want to be chastised again.

In the end, he chose not to respond to Damian. He never actually met Jason so he did not know how he acted around animals. He was not even sure whether or not he stopped by at this point. Besides, Krypto had a preference for Conner so it was not hard to believe that Titus preferred Damian. All animals in the household seemed to prefer Damian. Mr Pennyworth came in second. Surprisingly, Damian let on that Mr Wayne was third on that list, which Jon would not have expected at all.

Then again, he did not expect any of the Bats to be particularly fond of animals. Tim always did his best to stoically ignore Krypto whenever he came over at the farm, so Jon did not see him as too much of an animal-lover.

When they reached the main stairways Jon stayed behind for a bit. The grand hallways were such a sight to be seen. He was pretty sure it was as big as his house in Metropolis, maybe. Damian walked down with grace whereas Titus essentially thundered to the bottom. Jon looked longingly at the hard wooden railing.

‘Ahem.’

Jon shrieked and whirled around with his arms defensively in front of him. Mr Pennyworth looked utterly unimpressed by his antics. He looked solemnly at him and slowly moved his eyes to gaze at the stair railing. ‘This is mahogany, master Jon.’

‘Is that so?’ Jon chuckled, slowly backing away.

‘So we do not slide down from it.’

‘Makes sense,’ Jon nodded empathetically. ‘Bye, Mr Pennyworth!’ He hurried down the stairs the normal way and caught up with Damian, who looked awfully smug. Jon pouted at him.

The front door of the manor swung open after some clanks of keys. Dick entered the hallway with his head already down to remove his shoes.

‘Grayson.’ Damian said, just a bit too high-pitched to hide his happiness. ‘I did not know you would come over today.’

Dick looked up, his hair blocking his eyes a bit. He smiled and although he was obviously tired, he looked just as happy to see Damian. ‘Hey Dami!’ his eyes drifted. Jon waved at him. ‘And Jon too, hi. You two heading out?’ Titus sniffed at Dick but ignored him for the most part. He sat down in front of the door and waited to be let out.

Damian nodded and finished walking down the stairs. Jon followed him with a skip in his step. The weather outside was great. It was warm enough to go out without a jacket, he just knew it. And the trees in the garden were tall enough for him and Damian to both climb into. The old tree at his grandparents’ farm was damaged during a storm and he had been forbidden from climbing into it.

Dick had a calculating glimmer in his eyes. ‘Did you do your homework?’

Damian stepped back with a betrayed hiss. His face was pulled in a disgruntled expression. Jon sighed and let his shoulders hang. ‘I do not need to do menial tasks to further my education!’

Dick straight up laughed at him and Jon’s spirits fell when he realised the two have danced this dance many times before today. Damian was going to lose this one, which meant that Jon would have to take the loss too. He really did not want to do his math homework.

‘Sorry buddy,’ Dick did not sound sorry at all. ‘We all have had to give in at some point. You two better get to it and then you can go outside. Come on, back up you go.’

Damian looked half like he wanted to see if he could battle Dick and win their freedom, but decided against it. ‘Whatever,’ he grumbled and turned away. Titus was confused at that and let out a little whine. Dick opened the door for the dog and then closed it again behind him. The terrain was big enough Titus to be safe without supervision, and the dog did need to run a lot to stay in good health.

Jon turned to follow Damian and was surprised when Dick followed them. Dick caught him staring and chuckled. He looked so unbelievably tired. ‘Bat-business,’ he stage-whispered. ‘Tell no one, not even yourself.’

‘That’s moronic, Grayson,’ Damian said moodily from the top of the stairs. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot with impatience. Jon resisted laughing. He smiled at Dick. ‘I won’t!’ he promised.

Dick waited in the hallway until he was no longer in their line of sight. Jon knew there was a secret passageway to the Batcave somewhere on this floor, his dad told him, but he did not know where yet. He even tried scanning the walls with his x-ray vision but Mr Wayne had long since thought of that.

‘So,’ Jon drawled. ‘Homework? I didn’t bring anything.’

‘I’ll lend you paper,’ Damian said. ‘You have to write it down because Grayson will check whether we have actually done it.’

‘Seriously?’ Jon began to laugh. ‘My mom does that too!’

Damian rolled his eyes as he let him to the library. When they entered they found Tim lounging on a sofa with a tablet in front of him. They locked eyes and Tim raised his eyebrow. ‘You kicking me out, brat?’

‘Be quiet and I’ll settle for pretending you’re moulded décor.’

Tim shrugged with the ghost of amusement on his face. ‘Good enough for me.’ He settled back down and enjoyed the warmth of a lazy fire. Jon knew Tim had fallen ill just a day ago because Damian complained loudly about it. Jon also knew that the library was the cosiest and quietest room with a fireplace in the manor.

At least Tim seemed to be in good health now. Tim offered Jon an upward tilt with his lips and then went back to his tablet to do whatever it was he was doing.

Damian had already moved to a corner in the library and picked his homework.

‘Shouldn’t you tell him Dick is home?’

Damian’s nostrils flared up. ‘He already knows.’ And that was all he offered on the matter.

They quickly settled in a comfortable rhythm and worked their way through math problems. Although bored out of his mind, Damian solved everything effortlessly and monotonously narrated the answers for their history homework. Jon had wanted to do his work himself – he didn’t want to mooch off of Damian forever – but going outside was too appealing to deny himself for very long.

When they were ready to leave Jon spared a quick look at Tim and saw that he had fallen asleep at some point. The tablet was dangerously balanced on his chest, but Damian did not seem to consider placing it on the table. Jon was not even going to try, he would wake Tim up before he ever came close enough. 

Jon did not know Tim very well. He really only knew some second-hand snippets about him from Conner and Damian, and neither was exactly unbiased in their observation. What little information that did overlap was enough for Jon to sometimes be a bit intimidated by him, even though he knew perfectly well that Tim bore no animosity towards him.

Damian huffed, shocking Jon out of his musings. ‘Does he not realise I could kill him easily like this?’

‘He probably knows you wouldn’t,’ Jon whispered, bemused. He shushed Damian before he could say anything else and shooed him out the room.

They walked down the stairs when Damian froze midway. Jon was startled to see Dick grin at them from the hallway. ‘All done?’ he asked innocently.

Damian hummed noncommittedly and continued walking. Jon nodded brightly.

Dick smile became more genuine. ‘Come in for a second so you two can grab some snacks.’ He disappeared into the direction of the kitchen.

Damian caught him staring and simply shrugged. ‘I think he’s trying to condition me,’ he explained. ‘Good behaviour equals a reward, that sort of thing. He does this to Drake too.’

Jon laughed at him for that. At this point, Jon was relatively sure Damian was messing with him when it came to the inner-workings of the Bats. The most disconcerting thing was that his dad did the same when he talked about Mr Wayne, so it did sometimes still happen that Jon was at a loss whether something was true or not.

The kitchen was as impressive as always, a bit more lived-in than previous times Jon was over. Dick was preparing small bowls of fruit and veggies. It was not what Jon would necessarily call a snack, he was more used to the conventional store-bought bars or candy, but he accepted his share gratefully anyway. The Wayne’s were adamant about their diets most of the time, and the times Jon had seen unhealthy foods inside the manor were few and far between. 

Dick dismissed them again and instructed them to be back inside in time for dinner. They were welcome to help if Alfred let them, which Jon knew translated to ‘you should help set the table if you are inside already, but stay out of Alfred’s way by any means necessary’. 

When they were finally outside, Jon felt like he could finally breathe. The headache that he had noticed creeping up on him sometime after mathematics problem number four began to fade. He floated a bit, relieved to be in the sunlight, and was amused to see Damian roll his eyes at him.

Damian called Titus over, who had been lounging on the driveway and showed Jon some tricks he had taught the dog now that they had the room to properly show off.

Then they went for the tree they had been aiming for from the start and started climbing. They took turns trying to one-up each other in ways to jump from branch to branch. Damian was far more creative and flexible when it came to exercise, but Jon took just as much fun in making the struggle more difficult for him whenever he could. And he did manage to coax Damian to hold onto him for a short flying session. Surprisingly, Damian began reciting some tips and suggestions for Jon to try out. Jon did not know whether Damian knew these things from researching planes, or from closely watching his dad, but he had fun trying them out.

When the air became the kind of murky that signalled the end of the day, they went inside. Titus came with them and lazily padded off to the living room.

They ended up offering if they could help set the table. Mr Pennyworth was busy preparing a simple noodle dish and accepted their help readily. They took their seats when they were done and were shortly joined by Tim. He greeted them, but he was mostly distracted by his phone.

Jon remembered a new game he had installed on his phone and before he knew it, he was rambling the details about it to Damian. Damian had little to contribute to the conversation and seemed more comfortable mocking the whole concept until Jon told him he could play a bit after dinner, which peaked his interests more than just hearing about it.

Tim did not join in on their conversation, but Jon noticed that he did not look uncomfortable either. In a way, it was fascinating to see Tim in such a casual environment, almost as though he blended in with the furniture. Jon almost laughed aloud when he remembered that Damian had said something similar the same day.

Dick also entered the room, looking more awake than he had a few hours ago. Jon could guess well enough what the eldest had been up to while no one was around to bother him. It seemed a bit excessive to go all the way from Blüdhaven back to the manor for just for some ‘bat-business’ and a nap, but Jon never pretended to really understand Dick either.

Mr Wayne only joined to sit at the table at the last possible moment when Mr Pennyworth finished serving dinner. Jon loved the man’s cooking, a popular opinion, and happily dug in after he said his thanks.

Mr Pennyworth did not join them and retreated to his room, undoubtedly with a plate of his own to enjoy in peace and quiet.

Dick was the one leading the conversations that were held at the table. He asked questions, told some anecdotes of his own, and even got Tim and Damian to exchange some words. Tim even asked Jon how his family was doing, something he likely already knew, and Jon accepted the question for the attempt at a light conversation that it was and supplied a more detailed answer than ‘they’re fine’.

It took a while, but eventually, Jon caught on that Mr Wayne had not said a single word during dinner, and that Dick was deliberately excluding him from the conversation. Everyone seemed perfectly content to accept this, and Jon was glad he had enough self-awareness to keep himself from trying to talk to Mr Wayne himself. He better not poke any sleeping bears with a stick.

But, despite Dick’s admirable efforts, the tension between him and Mr Wayne escalated and eventually became almost unbearably uncomfortable. It was no wonder that Dick had to admit defeat in the end. A few terse seconds after dessert the eldest sighed regrettably and pushed his chair back.

‘Right,’ he drawled lazily. ‘Yeah, I’m off,’ he announced and he quickly snuck behind Damian’s chair to hug him. Damian protested venomously and tried to elbow him in the side. To Jon’s surprise, Dick came by to hug him too. ‘You two take care now.’

He ruffled Tim’s hair before he grabbed his dishes so he could bring them to the kitchen on his way out. He disappeared from the room without looking Mr Wayne in the eye.

Tim took a moment too long trying to fix his hair for his exit to be seen as entirely easy-going, but he carried it well enough to keep his dignity.

Damian glowered half-heartedly at his father, unmistakably unimpressed, and pushed himself away from the table. ‘We’re leaving too.’

Jon hurried to collect his plate and followed Damian’s example of placing it in the sink. He lowered his gaze when he passed Mr Wayne, too nervous to even say goodbye.

Not that he thought he would receive a response anyway. Mr Wayne had not looked up or acknowledged either Dick or Tim leaving, after all. He sat calmly, staring at his glass of water with an indescribable expression, deep in thought. Jon felt as though the man was not even in the same room as them anymore. The moment was in stark contrast to the time Mr Wayne, Damian, his dad and himself went picnicking at his grandparents’ farm. Then, although clearly out of his element, Mr Wayne had been present and pleasant company.

Jon was happy to be back in Damian’s room, where he jumped to the chance to show him the game he had been talking about. Damian was bored of it within minutes, but Jon had successfully gotten rid of his best friend’s solemn mood after Dick’s abrupt goodbye.

Jon was even relieved now that he would not have to do any homework when he got home.

They ended up setting up Damian’s gaming console and playing a co-op strategy simulator. Jon was happily surprised when, because game-logic was utterly detached from reality-logic, he noticed he could actually contribute in their strategizing to escape each level. Damian looked like he was having a good time, too.

Before Jon knew it, Mr Pennyworth knocked on the door to tell them that his dad was there to come to pick him up. Damian waved him off when he offered to help clean up and ended up kicking him out for stalling too much.

On their way flying back home, Jon was practically buzzing with energy when he told his dad about his day, and to his mom when they went inside the house. He handed his homework over to his mom, who was surprised at first but then started laughing.

They watched a film together and when it was time for bed, Jon texted Damian to wish him a save patrol (which Damian hated because that meant boring to him).

He had just jumped into bed when he finally spotted Damian perched on his desk. He was dressed in his Robin uniform and his slight smirk was obvious for Jon to see.

Jon knew he was told to go straight to bed, but he could not stop his lips from curling upward. He was already moving before Damian told him to.

‘Suit up, Superboy,’ Robin said. ‘I need your ridiculous strength for something.’


End file.
